While starting on a rather bombastic note, Star Trek: Discovery has taken a steady pace in setting up all the elements in the show. Now that all the characters are established, this week’s bizarrely titled episode, “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” is the show’s first attempt to demonstrate what Discovery will be each week, and it’s mostly promising.

Spoilers for Episodes 1-3, please read with discretion

Unlike last weeks “Context is for Kings”, we have a more traditional Star Trek plot this time around, with both its strengths and weaknesses to that effect. Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), now a fully qualified Science Officer (albeit without rank), has been tasked with studying the creature that ravaged the USS Glenn in the last episode. Captain Lorca (Jason Isaacs) is quite clear that he is only interested in the specimen, nicknamed ‘Ripper’, as a potential weapon against the Klingons. But Burnham disagrees, having mixed feelings about her assignment.

However, all the research projects must be rushed, as a distress call from a mining planet rushes the Discovery into battle. They have nine hours to reach the planet, but with not nearly enough time to prevent the attack. If they don’t reach it, the Federations Dilithium supply will be cut off and Starfleet’s ships will be out of fuel.

While last week’s episode discussed war in respect to how it affects people personally, this episode focuses on it as more of a numbers game. All the plots are linked by resources in some fashion. If the mining planet is taken, the Federation loses fuel. There is a subplot with the Klingons running out of food. Even the battle itself is making the crew rush their scientific projects, making time a luxury they don’t have.

Ripper, mysterious as it is, becomes a tool Lorca can utilise in the growing conflict, and as Commander Landry (Rekha Sharma) points out, Burnham herself is only here because the Federation felt she may be useful, rather than because they believe in her as a person.

This puts the needs of Science at odds with the needs of grand scale conflict, an unexpectedly mature theme considering the more fantastical nature of “The Battle at the Binary Stars”. To save the miners, Lorca rushes the incomplete Long Jump project against Stamet’s (Anthony Rapp) advice. As a result, the Discovery nearly crashes into a star and almost destroys the ship.

This seems to be the main theme of this episode; the consequences of rushing Science in a panic. We get another harsh example of this when Landry tries to rush Burnham’s Ripper project, and sadly pays the price for it.

This not only makes for great drama, but it adds something the Star Trek franchise desperately needs; limits to its own technology. Even in the best Star Trek stories, a problem with the storytelling is that everything is so easy in the future. Replicators can provide any food or substances. A holodeck can provide endless entertainment. Transporters can send you almost anywhere.

It’s similar to the problem of trying to put the near immortal Superman in danger. When the characters in Star Trek have everything they could possibly want, how do you create any compelling drama?

Of course, the Discovery can’t abandon the miners either. They are innocent workers caught in the crossfire, and the Federation is lost if the Klingons take the planet. Both Lorca and Stamets have valid points of view, and it’s commendable to see that Discovery is brave enough to continue exploring morally grey stories. Unfortunately, since the episode sets up a conundrum with no easy answer, the resolution (which I won’t spoil) feels like something of a cheat.

Star Trek has had concepts like this before, but Discovery seems to be working hard to be more grounded than previous franchise outings. While it didn’t ruin the episode for me, I hope the show works harder to stay rooted in the harsher reality the first episodes seemed to be offering.

Still, the finale of the episode shows off Discovery in its first battle. After three episodes of harsh no win scenarios, it is incredibly satisfying to see the crew have their first taste of victory against the odds. After so much loss, the characters have certainly earned it by now.

Finally, there is a minor subplot involving Captain Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), killed in “Binary Stars” and as we discover in the Klingon Subplot, eaten for food afterwards. This is easily the darkest thing to consider in this, and possibly any Star Trek story. I suspect this moment may be divisive. In any case, I didn’t have time to talk about Yeoh’s performance in the “The Vulcan Hello” review, but her performance as Georgiou is incredibly impressive, being both very well rounded and nuanced. Yeoh quickly demonstrates in very little time what an ideal Starfleet captain should be, as opposed to the authoritarian captain that Lorca is.

“Butcher’s Knife” is a little too cluttered for my tastes, but it’s still a strong outing with interesting themes at its core. I sincerely hope Yeoh gets another chance to return later in the series. While Isaac’s Captain Lorca is certainly an interesting new take on Starfleet captains, Star Trek is ultimately stronger with captains who are explorers, not just soldiers.

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we're banking on this being the best

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we’re banking on this being the best gaming event in Ireland during 2018!